Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony as a "Sinfonia caracteristica"

Author(s): F. E. Kirby
Source: The Musical Quarterly , Oct., 1970, Vol. 56, No. 4, Special Issue Celebrating the
Bicentennial of the Birth of Beethoven (Oct., 1970), pp. 605-623
Published by: Oxford University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/740929

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 BEETHOVEN'S PASTORAL SYMPHONY

AS A SINFONIA CARACTERISTICA

By F. E. KIRBY

HE problem of formal organization in large-scale multimov

instrumental compositions of Beethoven - and indeed of a
works of the Classic period, for that matter - continues to be per
There seem to be two important aspects to the question: the fir
cerns the matter of unity, of formal coherence in the constitution of
compositions, while the second has to do with the question of exp
with the character and, in a way, the artist's purpose or intentio
work. Ordinarily scholars have dealt with these two aspects sepa
with the first getting most of the attention, as is clear, for instance,
Ludwig Misch's admirable attempt to formulate a systematic bas
investigations of this kind.' Yet there are cases in which it is pos
take the two aspects in combination, and the Pastoral Symphony
vides a good opportunity to do this.

That Beethoven had specific expressive intentions of some so

each of his major instrumental works seems clear enough. We h
firsthand reports of both Ferdinand Ries and Carl Czerny, both o
were at one time or another in close association with Beethoven. Ries
maintains that Beethoven, in composing, always had a "definite object" 2
in mind, while Czerny states that Beethoven's compositions always ex-
press a "mood or point of view." " The Darmstadt composer Louis
Schlbisser has handed down Beethoven's notion of a "fundamental idea"
1 Ludwig Misch, Die Faktoren der Einheit in der Mehrsiitzigkeit der Werke
Beethovens. Versuch einer Theorie des Werkstils. (Ver6ffentlichungen des Beethoven-
hauses in Bonn, Neue Folge, Vierte Reihe, III; Munich, 1958).
2 Franz Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries, Biographische Notizen iiber Ludwig van
Beethoven, rev. ed. Adolf Kalischer (Berlin, 1906), pp. 92-93 (the book originally
appeared in 1838).
3 Carl Czerny, Die Kunst des Vortrags (Vollsttindige theoretisch-praktische Piano-
forte-Schule, Op. 500; Vienna, 1847), p. 33.

605

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 606 The Musical Quarterly

which allegedly controls the organization of each of his

likely that Anton Schindler's conception of poetic ideas
underlie each of Beethoven's major works belongs he
though the exact nature of these poetic ideas is far from
know that Beethoven himself was deeply concerned with
acter in his compositions. He provided many of his work
or in part, with explicit designations of their expressi
pathe'tique, Sinfonia eroica, Pastoral-Sinfonie, Quartetto
conia, Das Lebewohl, Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesen
heit, Der schwer gefasste Entschluss, and so forth.
But just exactly how all this is to be interpreted has
considerable difference of opinion. One such opinion ta
departure from Schindler's poetic ideas. Referring to c
allegedly had with Beethoven himself, Schindler claims
intended to affix programmatic titles to all of his com
the fashion of the Pastoral Symphony - in order to mak
explicit, thus to provide for each of them what Schind
In a similar vein, Karl Amenda, a close friend of Be
1800, reports that the adagio of the String Quartet in F
No. 1, was explicitly associated by Beethoven with th
Romeo and Juliet; and in a preliminary draft the close o
appears with the annotation "les derniers soupirs." 7
could also be mentioned.

It is clear that such an idea would find great resonance among nine-
teenth-century musicians and writers on music, and indeed E. T. A
Hoffmann, Friedrich Rochlitz, Ludwig Rellstab, Robert Schumann,
Franz Liszt, and Richard Wagner - to name only a few of the mor
prominent among them - have regarded Beethoven and his works in
this light.8 More recently scholars such as Paul Bekker and Arnold
4The account of Louis Schl6sser, originally published in 1885, has often been
reprinted, as in Ludwig van Beethoven: Berichte der Zeitgenossen, Briefe und per
s6nliche Aufzeichnungen, ed. Albert Leitzmann, I (Leipzig, 1921), 253-54. The passag
has often been translated into English.
s See Anton Schindler, Beethoven As I Knew Him, ed. Donald W. MacArdle,
trans. Constance Jolly (Chapel Hill, N. C., 1966), pp. 400-408.
6 Anton Schindler, Life of Beethoven, translated by Ignaz Moscheles (Boston,
n. d.), pp. 133-36, 140.
7 See Alexander Wheelock Thayer, Life of Beethoven, ed. Elliot Forbes (Princeton,
N. J., 1964), I, 261, and Paul Mies, Die Bedeutung der Skizzen Beethovens zur
Erkenntnis seines Stiles (Leipzig, 1925), pp. 150-51.
8 See Adolf Sandberger, "Zur Geschichte der Beethovenforschung und Beet-

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 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony as a Sinfonia caracteristica 607

Schering '~ have given similar interpretations. By all odds the most drastic
is the one offered by Schering, who set out from the premise that Schind-
ler's poetic idea was the same as a literary program, so that in this view
Beethoven's works become virtual symphonic poems, the specific pro-
grams for which were not identified by the composer. Schering took it
upon himself to uncover these alleged hidden literary programs by mov-
ing from a detailed analysis of the music to a hypothetical program
which by means of intuition (Spiirsinn) is then connected with a specific
literary work." In this way Schering made the following associations
among others: the Sonate pathetique with portions of Schiller's Hero und
Leander; the Sonata in C minor for Violin and Piano, Opus 30, No. 3,
with Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werthers; the Eroica Symphony
with Homer's Iliad (the obvious links to France and Napoleon notwith-
standing!); and the three Razumovsky quartets, respectively, to Goethe's
Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, Jean Paul's Flegeljahre, and Cervantes's
Don Quixote in the translation by Ludwig Tieck. The Pastoral Sym-
phony itself is specifically associated with James Thomson's The Seasons.
Such an extremely programmatic approach to the problem of the
poetic ideas has, to be sure, not found widespread acceptance. A number
of arguments indeed may be raised against it, even against the whole
idea of any association between Beethoven's works and literary works. It
must be noted, for instance, that most suggestions alleging that such rela-
tionships exist do not go directly back to Beethoven himself, but rather
to people who knew him - Amenda and Schindler. Furthermore, it
would seem that if Beethoven really had such elaborate literary allusions
as Schering suggests in mind when composing his works, then some -
even a great deal - of evidence for this would necessarily be found in
the sketchbooks: while in fact there is virtually nothing to substantiate
this interpretation. It may, on the other hand, be objected that the
sketch for the adagio of the String Quartet in F major, Opus 18, No. 1,
has the annotation at the close of the movement "les dernier soupirs,"
thus apparently confirming the association with Romeo and Juliet; but
at the same time the passage in question consists merely of conventional

hovenliteratur," in his Forschungen, Studien und Kritiken zu Beethoven und zur

Beethovenliteratur (Ausgewiihlte Aufsiitze zur Musikgeschichte, II; Munich, 1924),
pp. 8-80.
9 Paul Bekker, Beethoven (Berlin, 1912-); English ed., trans. M. Bozman (Lon-
don, 1925).
10The principal books are Beethoven in neuer Deutung (Leipzig, 1934) and
Beethoven und die Dichtung (Berlin, 1936).
11 Beethoven in neuer Deutung, pp. 13-14.

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608 The Musical Quarterly

"sob" figurations which in themselves would entirely

in the sketch without any need to bring in Romeo an
know Beethoven's intensely negative reaction to the
terpretations by the Bremen poet Karl Iken of his S
Symphonies, and how he instructed Schindler to ma
against such interpretations: "Should explanations
should be restricted to characterizing the piece in a
thing that a well-educated musician should not find
correctly." l2
Since the Pastoral Symphony, with its obvious ex
and "programmatic" titles affixed to the various mo
such an important part in the development of this p
terpretation, it is well to realize that the work can
entirely different fashion, as the present essay will
strate. This is done by establishing a relation betwe
poetic idea underlying the composition as a whole an
tion, handed down from the Baroque, that a musica
be unified by the expression of a single emotional c
throughout. The latter idea was espoused by a numb
ers around the turn of the eighteenth century, and w
by a group of conservative musicians in Berlin, inclu
rich Reichardt, Carl Spazier, and Carl Friedrich Zelt
stance, refers to a "total idea," which he variously c
ing" and "total sensation," which is to govern an en
sition.'3 This would seem to imply that the over
instrumental composition in several movements is s
with expression of a particular character, emotion,
But this idea requires considerable modification bef
applied to the major works of Beethoven, to say noth
Classic period generally. At the same time, there ar
Beethoven to which the idea is more readily applica
Symphony is one of them.
Among the sketches Beethoven made in 1818 we f
annotation: "Adagio cantique. Pious song in a symph
modes - Lord God we praise thee - alleluia - e
12 Quoted by Adolf Sandberger in the Neues Beethoven-J
173.

13 See Paul Mies, "Zur Musikauffassung und Stil der Klassik: eine Studie aus
dem Goethe-Zelter Briefwechsel 1799-1832," Zeitschrift fiir Musikwissenschaft, XIII
(1930-31), 432-43 (especially 434).

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 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony as a Sinfonia caracteristica 609

introduction to a fugue. The whole 2nd symphony might be character-

ized in this manner ... ." 1 As we know, the two symphonies planned
here were never composed, but elements of them clearly appear in the
Ninth Symphony and in the String Quartet in A minor, Opus 132.
Although there are but few compositions of Beethoven that display a
single expressive character throughout, the possibility of such a work in
his mind is clear enough; indeed, we hope to show that he had already
composed at least one work of this kind, exceptional to be sure, but an
example nonetheless, the Pastoral Symphony. In the London sketchbook
(1807), which contains the principal sketches for this work, we find,
right at the bottom of the first page the annotation sinfonia caracteris-
tica."1 This qualification was applied by him to no other completed
symphony, although he did apply it to the Overture in C major, Opus
138, originally intended for the opera Fidelio; and he also, as we have
seen, contemplated a symphony characterized by the use of the church
modes. Zelter, moreover, used the term "characteristic" with reference to
Beethoven in his correspondence with Goethe.16
A search for the explanation of the term "characteristic" in art and
music leads naturally to aesthetic and musical writings of the late eight-
eenth century, especially in Germany. Just as we now recognize a
number of different meanings for the word "character" - among them
a graphic symbol, a style of handwriting, or perhaps more commonly an
attribute or set-of attributes that makes up or distinguishes an individual
or a group of objects or persons - so also in the eighteenth century the
term had several connotations. In aesthetics, however, it is the last - an
attribute or set of attributes that distinguishes or characterizes something
- that was ordinarily meant. But even this meaning is open to further
interpretation, since such characterization may underline the uniqueness
of an individual or object, in which case the element of individuality -
and often emotional expression - is stressed, or it may serve to typify the
individual or object, to mark him or it with typical features that belong
to a particular group, type, or class. Both interpretations are encountered

14 English translation as given in Thayer-Forbes, II, 888.

15 MS London, British Museum, Add. 31766, fol. 2'. Published in Ein Skizzen-
buch zur Pastoralsinfonie op. 68 und zu den Trios op. 70, 1 und 2, ed. Dagmar Weise, II
(Ver6ffentlichungen des Beethovenhauses in Bonn, Neue Folge, 1. Reihe; Bonn,
1961), 5.
16 See his letter of May 16, 1820, in Der Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und
Zelter, ed. Max Hecker, II (Leipzig, 1915), 62: "Haydn in der 'Sch6pfung' und in
den 'Jahreszeiten,' Beethoven in seinen Charaktersinfonien und in der 'Schlacht von
Vittoria' haben das Seltsamste auf die Tafel gestellt und ausgezeichnet."

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 610 The Musical Quarterly

in eighteenth-century German aesthetic writings."

The same two possible meanings appear when the term
respect to music. Often the word "character," "characte
acteristic" refers to the expression of individual subject
it refers to the manifestation in the musical composition
and generally recognized quality. The two are not mutu
As an example we may take the description given by
Cramer in his review of Georg Christian Fiiger's Charak
vierstiicke: "These characteristic pieces differ from son
latter several different characters are presented mixed up
former, however, in general only one definite charac
throughout the piece." ' Thus, according to Cramer, i
teristic piece not only is a single expressive character dis
out - and thus may be associated with the Baroque
expression of the affections - but its character is also d
may add, in most cases explicit. Cramer's description
keyboard compositions published in the eighteenth cent
name of characteristic or characterized pieces, such as t
Bach in Birnstiehl's serial anthology Musikalisches Allerle
63), or Daniel Gottlob Tiirk's Handstiicke (two vo
1792), to name only two.20
Tiirk, for his part, has given definitions not only of
piece," but also of "characteristic symphony." The form

17 A comprehensive discussion of the problem is Ferdinand D

schiine und Charakteristische von Winckelmann bis Friedrich Schle
1925); see also Denk, "Ein Streit um Gehalt und Gestalt des Kunstwerkes in der
deutschen Klassik," Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift, XVIII (1930), 427-42.
18 The subject needs further investigation. Two works that seem especially close
to Beethoven and his circle are: Christian Gottlob Neefe, "Das Charakteristische der
Instrumentalmusik," in his Dilettanterien (n. p., 1785); excerpt in Ludwig Schieder-
mair, Der junge Beethoven, 2nd ed. (Weimar, n. d.), pp. 89-90; and Christian Gott-
fried K6rner, "tber Characterdarstellung in der Musik," Die Horen, I. Jahrgang
1795, 5. Stiick, pp. 97-121; in the facsim. reprint ed. (Darmstadt, 1959), Vols. I-II,
585-609; also reprinted in Wolfgang Seifert, Christian Gottfried Kiirner als Musik-
iistheiker (Forschungsbeitriige zur Musikwissenschaft, IX; Regensburg, 1960), pp.
147-58. It should be noted that the distinction between "tone-painting" and "the
characteristic" drawn by Hugo Goldschmidt, Die Musikiisthetik im 18. Jahrhundert
(Zurich, 1915) is not always reflected in eighteenth-century writings.
19 Filger's pieces were published in Tiibingen, apparently in 1783 or 1784, and
not in 1751 as some earlier references have it. Cramer's review appears in his Maga-
zin der Musik, II (Hamburg, 1786), 1308-10.
20See Willi Kahl, article "Charakterstiick," Die Musik in Geschichte und
Gegenwart, II (Kassel, 1952), cols. 1094-1100.

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 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony as a Sinfonia caracteristica 611

he says, "is used primarily for those individual compositions in which

either the character of a person, etc., or of any sort of emotion (feeling,
passion), such as joy, yearning, compassion, pride, love, etc., is ex-
pressed." 21 Again the emphasis is put on the musical representation of
particular emotional qualities. As composers of characteristic pieces Tiirk
names C. P. E. Bach, Carl Ferdinand Friedrich Fasch, and Johann Ab-
raham Peter Schulz, in addition to Fiiger, of whose pieces, incidentally,
he says that "they could have remained unpublished without doing art
any harm whatsoever."
In Tiirk's explanation of characteristic symphony the term is associ-
ated with the overture to a theatrical or dramatic work of some kind:
"Characteristic symphonies is a name that could primarily be given to
those symphonies which instead of the usual overtures [i. e., which lack a
specific expressive character] are intended to open an opera, an oratorio,
or something of the sort. But the term may be applied to a symphony
only when it stands in [close] relation to the principal content, or even
merely to important individual parts of the opera that is to follow, or
when a certain action that is to take place immediately is expressed in the
symphony.""' As examples he mentions the overtures to Gluck's Alceste,
Naumann's Cora, Mozart's Don Giovanni, and Reichardt's Geisterinsel.
Presumably Mozart's overture to Die Zauberflite, as well as several of
Beethoven's overtures, could also be included. In any case, the term
"characteristic" seems, once more, to refer to a composition whose emo-
tional quality can be exactly determined and explicitly stated in words.
Cramer, in his review of Fiiger's keyboard pieces, also goes on to
name individual composers of characteristic pieces, mentioning first Jo-
hann Friedrich Kliffler (who composed a well-known battle symphony)
and Justin Heinrich Knecht (who composed an equally well-known pas-
toral piece), and then adds the names of Telemann, Dittersdorf, and
with particular emphasis, C. P. E. Bach. He then makes the assertion
that Haydn has also composed such pieces, but that he has omitted the
21 Klavierschule, 2nd ed. (Leipzig, 1806), p. 444. The first edition of Tiirk's
treatise (1789) is available in a modern facsim. reprint, ed. Erwin R. Jacobi (Docu-
menta musicologica, I. Reihe, XXIII; Kassel, 1962). The passage corresponding to
the one just quoted appears here on p. 395.
22 Ibid., p. 440: "Charakteristische Sinfonien k6nnte man vorzugsweise diejeni-
gen Sinfonien nennen, welche, statt der sonst gew6hnlichen Overtiiren, zur Eroff-
nung einer Oper, eines Oratoriums &c. bestimmt sind. Die erwihnte Benennung
kommt aber der Sinfonie nur alsdann zu, wenn sie auf den Hauptinhalt, auch wohl
bloss auf einzelne wichtigere Theile der darauf folgenden Oper &c. Beziehung hat,
oder wenn eine gewisse unmittelbar vorhergehende Handlung in der Sinfonie ausge-
driickt wird." (In the first edition the corresponding passage appears on p. 392.)

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612 The Musical Quarterly

descriptive titles. Presumably an example of this wou

phony in F minor, No. 35a or 49, composed in 1768,
passionate character throughout, so that it was (a
passione, a title that does not come from Haydn.
Thus we have clearly reached the second of the tw
notations of the qualification "characteristic": a com
certain typical features that mark it as belonging to
type. Such a piece, then, must make use of a musica
plicit associations with a definite expressive characte
such musical styles and associations seems to have b
examples we may suggest: the passionate, the pathe'ti
the churchly, the military, the heroic, the battlefiel
pastoral-idyllic. Different national characters were f
through dances.
That Beethoven's understanding of the characterist
ity with this seems clear from an annotation associat
the Piano Sonata in A-flat major, Opus 26. This
tion begins with a set of variations, continues with a
funeral march, and concludes with a rapid finale. Aft
used for the variations Beethoven wrote in the sketch
out - then a minuet or some other characteristic pi
a march in A-flat minor, and then this," and there f
the theme of the last movement.23 A minuet or, be
pecially a funeral march, was for him a characteristi
Beethoven used the designation sinfonia caracteristic
pastorella, it is obvious that he intended a particular
istic work, one associated with the pastoral character.
Many years ago Adolf Sandberger presented a c
cussion of the pastoral style,24 so that it is necessary he
late the main points of his survey of this tradition.
ments in the pastoral style we may mention bird-ca
23 Gustav Nottebohm, Zweite Beethoveniana, p. 237: "var
Menuetto o qualche altro pezzo characteristica come p. E. u
poi questo."
S2Adolf Sandberger, "Zu den geschichtlichen Voraussetzu
fonie," in his Forichungen, Studien und Kritiken zu Beethove
literatur (Ausgewdhlte Aufsdtze zur Musikgeschichte, II; M
200. See also Willi Kahl, "Zu Beethovens Naturauffassung,"
Gegenwart. Festschrift des Beethovenhauses Bonn Ludwig
Geburtstag, ed. Arnold Schmitz (Bonn, 1937), pp. 220-65 an
wolf, Beethoven in der Zeitwende, I (Halle, 1953), 417-21, a
"Pastorale," Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, X (19

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 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony as a Sinfonia caracteristica 613

horn themes, shepherds' pipes (pifa or pifferari), and shepherds' calls

(ranz des vaches or yodeling), country dances, the representation of flow-
ing water and of bleating sheep, and the imitation of that characteristic
instrument of country life, the bagpipe with its drone bass, In the eight-
eenth century the lilting dotted rhythm of the siciliano was frequently
associated with the representation of the pastoral, as were flutes, oboes,
and horns. Melodic motion in parallel thirds was also common. That
such features were recognized at the time as having a pastoral character
seems clear, for example, from a passage in Goethe's Italienische Reise,
where a "Pastoral Music" which he heard (January 6, 1787) is de-
scribed as being characterized by "the shawms of the shepherds," "the
twittering of birds," and "the bleating of sheep." 25
Pastoral compositions of this type had a long history, as has been
abundantly demonstrated by Sandberger and Engel. Sandberger gives
examples of pastoral subjects (for instance, II pastor fido) in theatrical
presentations from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries; obvi-
ously many operas and intermezzos could be included. Portrayals of the
Annunciation and the Nativity are also often pastoral in character, as
exemplified, for instance, by Bach's cantata for Annunciation, Wie sch6n
leuchtet der Morgenstern (BWV 1), or Handel's Messiah, which con-
tains a short instrumental piece called Pastoral Symphony. We may also
find examples in works by Vivaldi, Boccherini, Leopold Mozart, Ditters-
dorf, and countless others. Often related to the pastoral piece is the chace
or Jagdstiick (the hunt piece).26 Parts of Haydn's oratorios, Die Jahres-
zeiten in particular, may be connected with this tradition. It is not un-
common to have the naive-idyllic calm interrupted by a brief thunder-
storm, as pieces by Freystiidtler,27 Vogler, Knecht, or even Vivaldi
testify. The famous overture Rossini wrote for Guillaume Tell belongs
here, since it presents in succession dawn, a storm, a pastoral, and the
quick march as finale.
Even Beethoven himself, apart from the Pastoral Symphony, com-
posed works of this kind. There is the early set of Variations sur un air
suisse (WoO 64), composed around 1790. Then, among a collection of
songs Beethoven arranged for the Edinburgh published George Thom-
son in the winter of 1815-16 under the title Lieder verschiedener Vblker

25 Goethe, Werke (Hamburger Ausgabe), XI (1960), 156.

26 See Alexander L. Ringer, "The Chasse as a Musical Topic in the 18th Cen-
tury," Journal of the American Musicological Society, VI (1953), 148-59.
27 See H. W. Hamann, "Zu Beethovens Pastoral-Sinfonie," Die Musikforschung,
XIV (1961), 55-60.

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614 The Musical Quarterly

(WoO 158), are found five Tirolean songs based o

and one Swiss song, a duet setting of Goethe's poem
An ii Bergli bin i gesdsse; two of these were subseque
variations for piano and flute or violin, Opus 107. Fu
impossible that the so-called Namensfeier Overtu
115, which was known as La Chasse at the time,
though Beethoven himself denied the association. An
ample would be the finale of the Violin Concerto.
When one turns specifically to the Pastoral Symp
see that themes connected with the traditional elem
style underlie and at the same time unify the entir
most explicit fashion. Two such elements are me
Schindler in his account of the work: the obvious bird calls at the close
of the second movement (one of the two plain examples of tone-painting
in the symphony, the other being the thunderstorm) and the peasants'
dance with its humorous adumbration of the playing of rural musicians.
(Here one might refer to Mozart's Ein musikalischer Spass, K. 522,
which not only contains humor of this sort but is known as "Dorf-
musikanten-sextett.") Schindler also points to a figure used repeatedly in
the first movement, which, he states without giving any evidence, makes
use of a pattern characteristic of Austrian folk music.28

But there is much more. Perhaps most important is the ranz des
vaches, the yodeling theme. Common features of ranz des vaches melo-
dies are: triadic motion, dotted 6/8 meter (reminiscent of the siciliano),
frequent use of grace notes, all harmonized mainly by the tonic triad.
There can be no question that the description of a typical ranz des
vaches melody is at the same time a good description of the principal
thevme of the finale of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, the Hirtengesang.
In fact, as Alexander Hyatt-King has shown, Beethoven employed here
a real Swiss ranz des vaches melody, the one known as the Rigi tune."2
Among the sketches for the theme we find the annotation "siciliano," in

a Schindler, Beethoven as . Knew Him, pp. 144-47. Other themes in the sym-
phony have been associated with Slavic, or more specifically, Croatian folk music; but
there has been much debate on the problem, and a satisfactory resolution has yet to
be reached. See, among others: B. Sirola, "Haydn und Beethoven und ihre Stellung
zur kroatischen Volksmusik," Beethoven-Zentenarfeier. Internationaler musikhistori-
scher Kongress (Vienna, 1927), pp. 111-15, and K. Sch6newolf, Beethoven in der
Zeitwende, I, 421 and 695.
2 A. Hyatt-King, "Mountains, Music and Musicians," The Musical Quarterly,
XXXI (1945), 401-3.

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 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony as a Sinfonia caracteristica 615
Ex. la Ranz des vaches (Rigi version, after Hyatt-King)

Ex. lb Hirtengesang from Pastoral Symphony-Beginning

Allegretto (J. = 60)
I . -- 5j
Clarinets in B6 IMF -IF

Horn in F ___ "_ _ ___

p
cresc.

Violin I

Violin II L _

Viola

PP cresc.

Violoncello

PP cresc.

10 15

p dolce cresc

BnF

pdolce cresc.

Hn.

Pecresc.

V1. 11. -0-.

dolce cresc.

Sf P

reference to the rhythm of that dance which Bee

30 London Sketchbook, fol. 14'. See Ein Skizzenbuch zur
II, 29.

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 616 The Musical Quarterly

The drone-bass accompaniment to this theme right a

of the finale is worth special attention. First, the clar
ranz des vaches theme in C major, accompanied by the
C-G in the violas; then, the horn echoes the clarinets
but joined by the cellos, which play the fifth F-C, thu
nance with the violas. While this may be intended as ru
suggesting the bagpipe, it must also be remembered th
sonances occur in other compositions of Beethoven, not
Symphony and the piano sonata Das Lebewohl, this char
inferred simply from the mere presence of the disson
recurs in varied form immediately preceding the d
56-63).
Elsewhere in the symphony are found themes and passages that de-
pend on the combination of the ranz des vaches melodic type and the
drone bass. It appears prominently right at the beginning of the sym-
phony, in the principal theme of the first movement. This theme features
the drone bass in fifths (as in the finale) and melodic material that may
be divided into three segments (which we designate X, Y, and Z), but
the underlying basis is clearly triadic. The third segment (Z) moves in
parallel thirds, a feature of the pastoral style, while the second part (Y)
displays the rhythm Schindler associates with Austrian folk music.
Another example, completely different in character, is the peasants'
dance in the third movement, the passage in 2/4 time marked "In tempo
d'Allegro (J = 132)" beginning at bar 165. Here the upper voices are
marked by repetitions of a strongly accented rhythmic figure (see Ex. 3c,
below) while the bass has heavily accented slow-moving notes (the inter-
val of the fourth predominates here) in a way reminiscent of the bag-
pipe accompaniment. Furthermore, the first principal theme in this move-
ment, in the D major section (bars 8-16 and 24-32), has something of
the same quality.
Many examples from other parts of the symphony could be intro-
duced here to testify to the importance of this type of construction in the
composition as a whole. Reference could, for example, be made to the
transitional and secondary passages in the exposition of the first move-
ment (bars 94-110), where the bass has the same character; and the
same is true of the closing theme (bars 115-35). There are also long
stretches in the development section which belong here, especially bars
151-75 and, again, bars 197-221. While the combination of the ranz des
vaches with the drone bass is less important in the slow movement (the
scene by the brook), elements derived from it are not entirely absent, as

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 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony as a Sinfonia caracteristica 617

Ex. 2 First Movement of Pastoral Symphony-Beginning

Allegro ma non troppo ( = 66) 5

Horn in F

violin I

Violin II k

Violoncello 6112

Contrabasso ..s

1010

PC_ ?- , - , ,., ,
Hn.

z p cresc.

VI. I

crec. - - - f f P cresc.
V1. II

f cresc
cresc. - - - f

Via.

V cs c. cresc.

VIC.

cresc. - - -cresc.

Cb.esc
3)cresc.

may be seen from the prevailing character of the bass part.

The ranz des vaches, however, is by no means the only intere
feature presented by the finale. The lyrical theme of the movem
stated at the outset consists of an eight-bar phrase played by th
violins and accompanied primarily by pizzicato cellos and sus
chords in the clarinets and bassoons (see Ex. 1). The theme
repeated two more times, first with the melody in the second viol

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 618 The Musical Quarterly

17-24) and finally in the violas, cellos, horns, and c

with each statement of the theme goes an intensifi
level rises and the rhythmic action in the accompan
creases. In short, we have a crescendo in stages, each
a complete statement of the theme. This repetitive
tained each time the theme appears during the cours
In the development the theme commences in the ma
its repetitive presentation is broken off during its se
64-75). In the recapitulation, the threefold presentation
heard, but the theme is here submitted to figural va
125-32, and 133-40), then followed by the conclu
140-64), which is substantially the some as in the exp
While such a repetitive structure is perhaps some
work of this kind, there are a number of other com
Beethoven employs it, as, for instance, in the coda of
of the Eroica Symphony, the allegretto of the Seven
principal themes in the finales of the "Waldstein" S
Concerto, as well as, to a lesser extent, the Coriolan
tures. More pertinent here, however, as will be seen
repetitive structure in the finale of the Ninth Symphon
Choral Fantasia, and it is this use that seems to pro
hoven's intentions in the Pastoral Symphony.
Beethoven's own title for the movement according
he put on the original concert-master's part was "Th
Joyous feelings with thanks to God after the storm." 31
known as Landsberg 10 (formerly in the Prussian St
the possession of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbe
this theme is characterized by Beethoven as "Expres
Lord, we thank thee. Slide softly throughout." 32 Th
sion of thanks to God is of particular interest here, sinc
sort is also suggested on a single sheet containing ske
phony in the Bodmer Collection at the Beethovenha
the theme is described: "Prayer. 4 voice-parts." 33 F
31 Nottebohm, Zweite Beethoveniana, p. 378: "Hirtenges
Dank an die Gottheit verbundene Gefiihle nach dem Sturm."

32Quoted by Weise, in Ein Skizzenbuch zur Pastoralsinfonie op. 68, I, 17:

"Ausdrucks des Danks [.] O Herr wir danken dir [.] schleifen durchaus sanft." See
also p. 10. Compare the slightly different and less correct reading given by Notte-
bohm, Zweite Beethoveniana, p. 375.
33 See Willi Kahl, "Zu Beethovens Naturauffassung," pp. 253-54: "Gebeth.
4 Stimmen."

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 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony as a Sinfonia caracteristica 619

sketchbook Grasnick 3 (formerly in the Prussian State Library, Berlin,

but apparently no longer extant) there were to be found on a leaf con-
taining references to the Pastoral Symphony the words "Praise be to God
on high - in the church style - holy in the church style." 34 In view of
all this, one might connect the repetitive structure of the theme with the
strophic form characteristic of the hymn, as is surely the case with the
"Joy" theme of the Ninth Symphony.35 Sandberger, in his survey of
pastoral compositions, makes reference to the symphony by Justin Hein-
rich Knecht already mentioned, dated around 1784, the outline of which
is similar to the Pastoral Symphony; its finale bears the title "inno con
variazioni." 36 It is entirely possible that Beethoven had a similar con-
ception in the finale of his symphony.
It seems plausible that Beethoven further unified his symphony by
employing this repetitive construction, sometimes in conjunction with a
crescendo and sometimes not, in all movements of the work. It shows
itself primarily in extensive passages characterized by incessant repetition,
often almost in the nature of ostinatos, and, by extension, in numerous
themes formulated in repetitive phrase structure. One may raise the
objection that such formulations appear elsewhere in Beethoven, and so
they do, but in this particular composition they seem at the same time
to dominate the construction.

A few examples may be given to illustrate this point. In the first

movement this kind of construction plays the largest role - apart, of
course, from the finale. We can point first to the principal theme itself,
where for ten bars the same bar of music is repeated ten times, with a
crescendo and then a decrescendo (bars 15-25). Then, in the transition,
there is a section characterized by repetition, an eight-bar period pre-
sented three times, followed by a cadence of two bars (bars 67-93). But
most striking is the development, where we find a long passage (bars
151-80) based on incessant reiteration of the same material, in which the
primary phrase unit is four bars in length: this phrase comes first in B-
flat and is repeated twice, then in D, where it is also presented three
times and associated with a crescendo, and finally a single cumulative
34 Sketchbook Grasnick 3, fol. 16'. See Ein Skizzenbuch zur Chorfantasie op. 80
und zu anderen Werken, ed. Dagmar Weise (Veriffentlichungen des Beethoven-
hauses in Bonn, Neue Folge, 1. Reihe; Bonn, 1957), p. 92: "Ruhm sej Gott in der
H6h im Kirchenstil heilig im Kirchenstil."
35 See F. E. Kirby, "Beethoven and the geselliges Lied," Music and Letters,
XLVII (1966), 116-25, as well as Joseph Miiller-Blattau, "Das Finale der Neunten
Sinfonie," in Von der Vielfalt der Musik (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1966), pp. 269-84.
36 Sandberger, "Zu den geschichtlichen Voraussetzungen," pp. 190-94.

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 620 The Musical Quarterly

statement in D, followed by a relaxing passage of ei

is then restated in G and E (bars 198-225). Had B
this in the 1820s, he would doubtless have marked t
quattro battute." Elsewhere in the symphony repetit
prevails in the most important thematic material. I
ment we may observe it in the principal and second
third movement, where this procedure would ac
country-dance character of the composition, we fin
themes: the opening theme, with its opposition of F
in the village musicians' episode (bars 87-161), and f
ants' dance (bars 165-204). Repetition and sequential
appear in the fourth movement, the storm.
There are two other factors that promote overall
but are not specifically associated with the pastoral c
to do with rhythm. The first involves the use of a rh
movements of the symphony. The motive consists o
eighth-notes with groups of two sixteenth-notes, the six
ing the weak part of the beat. But the motive appea
cording to whether the meter is duple (as in the fir
ments) or triple (as in the others). In the firs
movements the motive forms a part of the principal
third it dominates the peasant dance episode. As alr
have Schindler's unsupported statement that this rh
found in Austrian folk music. If true, then the use o
provide yet another instance of the use of elements
in the symphony.
Ex. 3 Recurring motif in Pastoral Symphony

a. First Movement (bar 2) c. Third Movement (

b. Second Movement (bar 6) d. Fifth Movement (bar 33)

The second has to do with the accompaniment. In th

we frequently find ternary subdivision of the beat, as goes
in the second and fifth movements, in 12/8 and 6/8, resp
is also prominent in the first movement, in 2/4 time, es
long repetitive passages in the development that have alr
cussed, where the triple rhythm is continuously maintain
and cellos (bars 151-74 and 196-220); this triplet rhythm
paniment is prepared for in the exposition, as may be

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 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony as a Sinfonia caracteristica 621

transition and closing themes (bars 54-63 and 115-30). Finally, refer-
ence may be made to the conflict in rhythms that characterizes the village
musicians' episode in the third movement.
To draw all this together, it seems clear that in the Pastoral Sym-
phony the expressive character that promotes unity is explicit: the
pastoral style. This character depends upon the use of certain stereotyped
thematic types, the ranz des vaches, the bagpipe, the country dance, the
brook, the bird calls, the storm, and so on, along with an almost syste-
matic use of repetition in the phrase-structure which may be associated
with the strophic form characteristic of the hymn. The consistent use of
such materials explains why Beethoven called the work a sinfonia carac-
teristica. Hence, in the Pastoral Symphony what Schl6sser called the
"basic idea," what Zelter called the "total idea," Ries's "definite object,"
Czerny's "basic mood or point of view," or what Schindler referred to as
the "poetic idea" of the work does not seem to be a single theme or
motive, but rather a complex of elements, all of which are associated
with the expression of the pastoral character. It is of such elements that
the entire work is composed, and hence this symphony is unified in a
way that does not appear to be typical of most of Beethoven's composi-
tions. The symphony rather fulfills one of Cramer's requirements for a
characteristic piece: a single expressive character is manifested all the
way through.
Thus, it may be suggested that if the symphony is characteristic in the
sense here described, with its expressive character manifested by consistent
use of elements of a readily recognized pastoral style, this would shed
light on some of Beethoven's annotations concerning the work that ap-
pear among the sketches. In the London sketchbook (1807), which
contains sketches for the entire symphony, we find right on the first page:
"it is left to the listener to discover the situations for himself." 37 The
sketchbook known as Landsberg 10, which originally was part of the
London sketchbook, contains still other written annotations: "even with-
out description one will recognize the whole, which [is] more feeling than
tone-painting"; and "Sinfonia pastorella - anyone who has ever had an
idea of country life can imagine for himself what the author [intends]." "
Apart from the usual explanations of these passages, which involve the
difference between tone-painting (Malerei) and expression of feeling
(Ausdruck der Empfindung)," it seems equally clear that the listeners
37 Weise, Ein Skizzenbuch zur Pastoralsinfonie op. 68, II, 5.
38 Ibid., I, 17.
3 Sandberger, "Mehr Ausdruck der Empfindung als Malerei," op. cit., pp. 201-
12. See also Willi Kahl, "Zu Beethovens Naturauffassung."

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622 The Musical Quarterly

would grasp Beethoven's intention simply because th

the characteristic use of the pastoral style throughou
The point is especially important in view of interp
in the nineteenth century, and not infrequently today,
the Pastoral Symphony is a piece of Romantic progr
simple. The fact that Beethoven gave descriptive
movements of the symphony is often cited in support o
other hand, we may refer once more to the complet
these descriptive titles in the context of the traditio
the pastoral style. But beyond this there remains the
is a symphony which respects the principal formal r
genre. The tonal organization of the work, for instan
would be expected in a symphony: all movements ar
in F minor), except the slow movement, which is
dominant relation to the main key. Furthermore, t
structure par excellence of instrumental music of the
the symphony, appearing everywhere except for th
movements (the "Gathering of the Peasants" and th
worth noting that the realistic bird calls in the seco
introduced only as an appendage, once the course of
has been completed.
Even the undeniable changes in organization made
this work do not basically affect its constitution as
phony. Among the more prominent changes to be n
added movement (the storm), the peculiar organi
movement, the scherzo, and the running together of
ments, which follow one another without a pause
clearly an example of tone-painting (Malerei), is dom
motivic theme, so that the principle of thematic cons
turbed. As for the peasant dance, we have here a sch
the conventional arrangement with a trio Beethoven
of three dances, the first at the very beginning, the
bar 87) featuring the village musicians passage alrea
the third (beginning at bar 165), a stamping danc
Ex. 3c). Since such successions of dances are importa
background of the symphony, their incorporation he
a departure from the traditions of the genre: the d
pastoral character to the symphonic scherzo. Furthe
regard the third of the dances (or possibly the seco
together) as constituting a trio which is heard tw

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 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony as a Sinfonia caracteristica 623

statements of the scherzo proper, a procedure familiar from the Fourth

and Seventh symphonies and other compositions. The last statement of
the scherzo proper, then, is broken off and runs directly into the storm,
with which, moreover, it is thematically related.
This brings us to a most important point, the sense of continuity, the
progression achieved by the last three movements of the Pastoral Sym-
phony, which are to be played without pauses between them: peasants'
dance - storm - hymn of thanksgiving. While instances of running
movements together are by no means unknown in the instrumental music
of the time, as works by Haydn, C. P. E. Bach, and Beethoven himself
readily testify, here it is essential to note that the procedure followed in
the Pastoral Symphony corresponds closely to the second half of Beet-
hoven's Fifth Symphony, which was composed at the same time. In the
Fifth Symphony the progression moves from the martial scherzo through
the vigorous trio and the muted restatement of the scherzo, which ends
in a gradual diminuendo, leading to the mysterious pianissimo passage
with the sustained A-flat chord in the strings and the soft pulsation of
the timpani, culminating after a gradual quickening of activity and an
exhilarating crescendo in the triumphant affirmation of the finale. In the
Pastoral Symphony the sequence of expressive characters is entirely differ-
ent, moving from the naive dances of the peasants through the tumult
of the storm (which thus, although it is considerably longer and is desig-
nated by Beethoven as a separate movement, structurally corresponds to
the transition passage in the Fifth Symphony) to the quiet affirmation of
the hymn of thanksgiving. The two symphonies thus have much in com-
mon, however much they differ in character.
The Pastoral Symphony, then, is a symphony. But it is a particular
kind of symphony, a characteristic symphony, consistently incorporating
traditional - and, for the audiences of the time, readily recognizable -
elements of the pastoral style, even to the inclusion of virtually stereo-
typed titles for the various movements and of the most obviously pic-
torial components of the style - bird calls and the thunderstorm - but
in such a way that the normal constitution of the symphonic form is left
intact. The consistent use of the pastoral style provides the fundamental
idea that underlies and unifies the symphony as a whole.40

40 Work leading to this article was supported in large measure by research grants
made through Lake Forest College in the summers of 1965, 1967, and 1968 by the
Irene Heinz Given and John La Parte Given Foundation, Inc., and by the Ford
Foundation.

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